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Bitcoin’s Difficulty has recorded several strong and often consecutive monthly increases since it was first created. Click here to learn why you should buy a Bitmain Antiiner S9 for profitability and learn about the specifications.

Wondering how to increase your Bitcoin profitability? You might want to invest in a Bitmain Antminer S9 Bitcoin Miner.

Bitmain Antminer S9 Bitcoin Miner

Bitcoin mining has come a long way since the early days. Bitcoin mining can be a challenge, but with the right equipment, the rewards are well worth it. Today’s Bitcoins are valued at about $6,000, so there’s a pretty big incentive to mine for Bitcoin blocks.

You can purchase the latest Bitmain Antminer S9I Bitcoin Miner Here. That’s the latest at the time of this writing. This one comes with a power supply, but they have other options if you don’t need the power supply. They also Have the Bitmain Antminer S9J Bitcoin Miner, for a bit cheaper, but it’s not as efficient.

Is the Bitmain Antminer S9 Bitcoin Miner the right tool to keep in your mining arsenal? In this guide, we’ll break down all the specs. Keep reading to learn if an Bitmain S9 Antminer Bitcoin Miner is in your future.

The Bitmain Antminer S9 Bitcoin Miner: Gamechanger or Not?

Since Bitcoin Difficulty was created, it’s recorded a number of strong increases, sometimes across consecutive months. All the investment in Bitcoin mining operations and technology sparked this massive growth. The interest in Bitcoin doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon.

This growth is incredible and has made Bitcoin the most powerful computing network in the world by a long shot. This growth also had a surprising side effect: greater centralization of mining farm operations.

The profits have grown most in areas where mining’s the most profitable, such as China. This has forced some competitors out of the industry altogether since they can’t keep up if they’re in the wrong area or do not constantly upgrade their Bitcoin miner’s. These competitive advantages have also removed large numbers of hobbyist miners from the Bitcoin market. For anyone who’s not invested, it’s almost not worth it anymore; unless you get free electricity or you buy the latest Bitcoin miner the day they come out.

The few people still mining from their homes are generally working to help decentralization or support the market. Unless your operation is super-efficient, it won’t be very profitable.

As these profits dwindle for small-time miners, people are looking for ways to turn things around. Can the Bitmain Antminer S9 Bitcoin Miner put hobbyist miners back in the game, or is profitability a lost cause for them?

Let’s take a look at the factors that will help us answer this question.

Price

One important side note: before investing in the S9, you’ll need to be sure you have a Bitcoin mining pool and Bitcoin mining software.

The Bitmain Antminer S9 doesn’t run cheap – on Amazon, it’s listed at roughly $700.00,but price change happen almost daily. But as long as your electricity costs aren’t high or are free, the Bitmain Antminer S9 will probably pay for itself in a year or so.

Of course, the time at which you’ll recoup the cost depends a lot on the
Bitcoin and Difficulty price. As new manufacturers release their own competing hardware, the price of the S9 can should fall too, But as new hardware is released, This one becomes obsolete. So be on the lookout for new realease dates and try to sell your old hardware before that happens or you can be stuck with nothing more then a room heater. The older models can also be useful to learn on and play around with.

Advantages

As semiconductors become smaller and smaller, computing power and electrical efficiency have grown. However, current technology won’t allow the process to go on for much longer.

In fact, some believe that Moore’s Law no longer applies. The rate of advancement in computing speeds has slowed because it’s now coming close to the physical limitations of the silicon semiconductor tech.

The S9 does offer a nanometer technological advantage. It uses a 16-nanometer fabrication process, which is a major step up from the 28-nanometer process seen in other mining devices. However, increases past 10 nanometers look unlikely for a while. Although you can do a bit better than the S9, the improvements are decidedly slowing down. But new releases are coming soon with 10 nanometer preorders from another manufactured just released.

Power

Every existing power supply with enough wattage will be compatible with the S9, making this mining device more accessible. You can run them at 120 or 240 volts.

Profitability

The S9 comes with more hashting power in its silicon than any device that came before it, with 14 Terahash per second.

It uses three circuit boards and a whopping 189 chips to achieve this power. Keeping in mind that Difficulty changes each fortnight and the Power Cost depends on your location, what’s the projected profitability?

You’ll also need to factor in Pool Fees, which depend on the mining pool. The S9 packs a lot of power, but with a single unit, you’re unlikely to find any blocks from solo-mining.

Remember that the Bitcoin to dollar price constantly changes, too. This makes it hard to project profitability. If you’re considering the
Bitmain Antminer S9 Bitcoin Miner, your best bet is to use a Bitcoin mining calculator to plug in the most current numbers and find out your projected ROI
as changes move aroudn quite a bit, even daily.

Some people mine and then immediately convert their coins to regular
currency. Others believe in Bircoin’s future and hold HODL coins thinking the
price will go up. If you remember in January / December of 2017/2018 The price was $20,000 per coin.

Power Consumption

The S9 is more electrically efficient than other mining devices before it, thanks to its high-tech manufacturing process. It only uses 0.1 Joules for each Gigahash, so it’s more than twice as efficient as the Antminer S7.

The S9’s total power consumption comes to about 1,340 watts, with a bit of variance. Although it uses about 300 watts more than the S7, that’s a small price to pay for such great efficiency & mining power.

Setting Up

Except for the power supply, the S9 is self-contained. You don’t need to connect it to any other computer to get it to interface with Bitcoin nodes.

Use the easy onboard web management portal to make setup and maintenance a breeze.

Temperature

The Antminer S9 features a sturdy, air-cooled design, so it’s easy to service and maintain. As long as you use it in a well-ventilated space, the S9 will perform well, from keeping a couple of units in a basement to a mining center with hundreds of thousands of S9s.

Should You Try Hobby Mining With the Antminer S9?

The Antminer S9 is no longer a brand-new device, so the hobby mining potential isn’t as great as it once was. The more that major miners put the S9 into use, the lower the profitability potential gets. However, constant changes in the Bitcoin world mean things could turn around at any moment.

That said, the S9 is an excellent piece of hardware. Using the current numbers with a calculator will help you decide if it’s right for you at this time.

Want to learn more about setting up a lucrative mining operation? Don’t miss this post.

How much power can you run on one circuit breaker / fuse on the main electrical panel that comes into the house?

If your room/shed is already wired it’s most likely one of the combinations below:

If it’s a 120 volt circuit it’s most likely 15 or 20 amps. If it’s a 208 / 240 volt circuit it’s most likely 15, 20 or 30 amps. But it can be just about anything. It just depends on what you are looking for and what outlets / receptacles you plan on using. The main thing to make sure is whatever you are using is rated for that much power. Whatever is the weak link in the chain of devices WILL catch fire if it’s not rated for that much current.

For the circuit breakers I recommend using ones that are GFCI circuit breakers and arc fault circuit breakers. It this particular type isn’t installed now, and most likely they won’t be, they only take 5 – 10 minutes to install. You’ll be thankful if your rig ever melts down, short circuits or the dog ever sticks his nose on your open air rig! If not sure how to do this use an electrician.

When buying breakers generally don’t go to home Depot or Lowe’s. Go to a good electrical supply house. Look for breakers that are made with Silver tungsten carbide contacts and not just plain copper. The copper ones fail and eventually arc over.

PS Audio Power Port, Furutec & Hubbell Make Good outlets but are probably overkill for this application.

Wire sizes

14-gauge wire is the smallest allowed for a 15 amp circuit. I recommend using 12-gauge; especially if you have a long run.

For 20 amps 12 gauge is the minimum size allowed. I recommend 10 gauge; especially if you have a long run. The smaller the number on wire size the bigger the wire and more current it can handle.

If your running a new breaker and wiring, I recommend going up to the next larger wire size then recommended. Everything will be much more efficient, the wires will run cooler, there will be much less voltage drop and it won’t cost that much extra to install. It’s ok to go to a larger wire size (smaller number) but not a smaller then recommended wire size.

Higher voltages are more efficient then lower voltages and you can put much more power down the same size wire at higher voltages, saving a bit of money there in wire costs. If you run something at 120 volts pulling 15 amps at 240 volts it only pulls 7.5 amps. Look how many more rigs you can put on the same circuit now!

Going to 240 just to be more efficient and save on power probably doesn’t make sense for most of us. You power saving will be a measly 1 – 2 percent.

So say your rig is using 1,000 watts every hour (1 Kilo watt hour) for 24 hours at $.10 a kilo watt hour. That’s 24 kilo watts of power used a day. Coming out to about $2.40 a day or $72 a month. One percent of power savings is a saving of only $0.72 cents for the entire month. Now if you have a server farm, it starts to add up and you want to really spec your components with ones that are efficient. But for just a couple rigs, it really doesn’t matter.

How many watts can a circuit handle?

A 120 volt 15 amp circuit can handle 1,800 watts. A 120 volt 20 amp circuit can handle 2,400 watts. The NEC National Electric Code states that for a continues load (Our miners are a continuous load) we can only pull a max of 80% of the circuits rating. So for a 15 amp circuit that would be 1,440 watts max and for a 20 amp circuit that would be 1,920 watts. You get these by multiplying voltage (120) times amps (15) = watts (1,800) then multiplying that by 0.80% = 1,440 safe continues watts.

Most of us our going to throw a miner in a spare bedroom, shed or garage. So we need to find out what lights or outlets are currently powered by that circuit.

Turn on all the lights in the house. Plug a lamp into the outlet you want to put your miner on & make sure the lamp is on and working. Now turn all the breakers off in the main panel. Make sure all your sensitive appliances & computers are turned off before this. This next part helps if you have a second person. One by one turn on each circuit breaker, ask your partner if the light has turned back on. If not turn that breaker back off and do the next one. Once you’ve found the one that turns on the light, leave that breaker on. Now you need to go thru every single outlet in the house and see what ones have power. Label them or make a mental note. Find out how many watts each device is using that are plugged into those outlets. You can either read the label on the appliance or use a device called a Kill A Watt to find out. You just plug the lamp or whatever into the kill a watt and then plug the kill a watt into the outlet. It tells you watts, amps, volts, power factor, hertz, etc. After you’ve added up everything ( total watts normally running by lamps, tv’s, etc. ) connected to that one circuit; take those watts & subtract them from the max continues power that circuit can handle from whatever circuit breaker capacity you are using. For example the 120 volt 20 amp circuit breaker. Hope that wasn’t too confusing?

P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

I also like to test the outlet to make sure it’s properly wired by using a outlet tester:

Don’t forget about things you can’t see like attic fans, ceiling fans, whole house fans, outdoor motion lighting etc. If one of the plugs has a motor on it or HID lighting, you may want to find a different circuit to put your mining rig on. Any times those type of devices turn on they use a HUGE amount of initial current and will probably reset, pop or blow the circuit breaker and turn off your mining rig.

Backup Power

Our mining rigs draw so much current it’s probably not feasible or worth it to pay for backup power. But I will mention it because a few of us are using our gaming PC or home computer to mine and we want to protect it from power surges, brownouts and blackouts.

What to look for in a backup power supply? The main thing is how long it takes to switch to backup & the kind of “wave” it generates. Most are all pretty good now-days. But one issue I have been seeing come up more and more. The APC consumer grade cheap ones use a stepped sine wave. On a lot of the newer digital computer power supplies the APC UPS power backups won’t power up your computer. You have to get a true since wave backup power supply. Just something to keep in mind.

This cyber-power one doesn’t have that issue, but when the batteries die on these, they completely stop working. So be sure to keep an eye on them when the battery starts to fail or lose capacity.

I would probably use a backup power supply on your modem, router & switches; since these are a bit more sensitive & they don’t use too much power.

If your running multiple rigs on one circuit make sure you use a high quality extension cord or power strip. Those $5.00 ones at home depot will not cut it. Your going to start a fire or burn up your rig.

Melted extension cord / electrical outlet. Not enough amp capacity

It’s also worth checking the specs of all equipment you are running of what environmental factors it can handle. Max & minimum temperatures & max and minimum humidity. We’ll talk about cooling, ventilation, air conditioning, swamp coolers, etc. in another article.

Wow, all this and we still haven’t’ actually got to choosing a power supply!

We have roughly two main choices for a for supply. Either a server type PSU or more of a home or gaming computer type power supply unit (PSU). If you’ve ever open up your home computer that’s the type you’d see.

The server type power supply units are typically much louder, But A LOT cheaper. If your mining bitcoin or using one of their ASIC miners, It’s going to be loud anyways, so just get a server type power supply.

Here’s one on Amazon from Bitmain; it will put out 1,200 watts at 120 volts or 1,600 at 220 volts. It has ten – 6 pin PCIe Connectors. Power cord not included, requires standard PC power cable (C13). If you have an old computer laying around the cord form that would usually work. Just make sure to check the amp rating on it & the length to make sure it has enough capacity for the device you are running. Some cords are super cheap and will cause a fire if used at the full 1,200 or 1,600 watts.

If your going 220 volts their will be a lot more options for power cords, ask away in the comments for your specific application.

If your mining one of the other alt coins, you can still use the bitmain power supply but it will be much noisier and you might not get wifey approval. So yea in the house, get a computer power supply.

Their are so many options for computer power supplies. Ultimately it depends what you are looking for and how many GPU’s are connected & how many watts your pulling. I’ll give a rundown on a few features you should look for…

Don’t go super cheap. You want something high quality that does a good job of regulating power & isn’t going to fry one of your $1,000 GPU’s. Even some of the major name brands of made a few “duds” so read the reviews.

Check how much noise it puts out and make sure your ok with that. SO even come with no fans.

How many watts do you need to run everything. motherboard, CPU,CPU fans, GPU’s, case fans, Hard drives, fancy LED’s. etc.

How many graphics cards do you plan on running on one system. So motherboards can handle 20 graphics cards now.

GPU-Z can tell you power usage. It’s an estimate, not an exact measurement, but it should be in the right neighborhood. You can also go on the manufacturer website. Plan on at least 100 watts per GPU, but some go much higher. 300+ watts.

You can lower power consumption of the GPU’s with overclocking utilities.

You can daisy chain multiple power supplies together so you don’t have to buy a high wattage power supply. It can cut your costs by 50%.

Use the Kill-A-watt meter mentioned above for exact wattage numbers.

How many power connectors will you need? Some graphic cards take 4 power connectors, plus if your running USB risers, they will need a connector as well.

Will your insurance cover your house if it burns down if they find out you were mining cryptocurrency. I’m hearing of policies setting up exclusions now against mining

If a power supply is 1,200 watts. but your mining system only need 200 watts, that’s all it uses. So it’s OK to oversize the power supply, so you can add on to the system later.

What connectors does the USB riser use & graphics card. 6-pin PCIe, 6+2 pin PCIe or simply 8 pin. The 6 pin have a max power of 75 watts & the 8 pin 150 watts per connector.

6-pin PCIe, 6+2 pin PCIe or simply 8 pin PCIe connector

Here’s a link to typical wattage’s & total connections needed on a GPU.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

TDP Power needed for Graphics Card in Watts

Power supplies run coolest & most efficient at between 65% and 85% of the load. If you are near max load it’s going to use more power and also run the fan all the time. So with an 850 watt power supply, at 65% load that would be 453 watts & at 85% load that would be 723 watts.

Reed the power supply efficiency rating. If it’s 80% efficient, 20% of the power gets lost as heat. So for an 850 watt power supply that’s 80% efficient, and you are using 850 watts, 170 of those watts would be lost as wasted energy. 170 watts an hour multiplied by 24 hours is 4.08 kilowatt hours a day, 122.4 kilowatt hours a month & 1,489.2 kilowatt hours a year. AT $0.12 cents a kilowatt hour you would waste $0.49 cents a day, $14.69 a month or $178.70 a year. The number add up and so do our lost profits.

The power consumption of PCIE slots:
A standard height x16 add-in card intended for server I/O applications must limit its power dissipation to 25 W. A standard height x16 add-in card intended for graphics applications must, at initial power-up, not exceed 25 W of power dissipation, until configured as a high power device, at which time it must not exceed 75 W of power dissipation.
A full-sized ×16 graphics card may draw up to 5.5 A at +12V (66 W) and 75 W combined after initialization and software configuration as a “high power device”.Optional connectors add 75 W (6-pin) or 150 W (8-pin) of +12 V power for up to 300 W total (2×75 W + 1×150 W).
There are cards that use two 8-pin connectors, but this has not been standardized yet as of 2018, therefore such cards must not carry the official PCI Express logo. This configuration allows 375 W total (1×75 W + 2×150 W) and will likely be standardized by PCI-SIG with the PCI Express 4.0 standard. The 8-pin PCI Express connector could be confused with the EPS12V connector, which is mainly used for powering SMP and multi-core systems.
PCI Express component diagram

PCI Express connector pin diagram

80 Plus certification – I recommend you get a power supply with this certification. Their are several tiers. Each higher tier is a bit better; including 80 Plus Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium certifications. I’d get at least bronze. Do the math. he wasted electricity starts adding up if you have a large mining farm.
80 plus certification for power supply PSU

So what do the different 80 Plus ratings mean?

The basic 80 Plus rating means that the PSU is rated for at least 80% efficiency at 20% load, 50% load, and 100% load.

The 80 Plus Bronze rating means that the PSU is rated for at least 82% efficiency at 20% load, 85% at 50% load, and 82% at 100% load.

The 80 Plus Silver rating means that the PSU is rated for at least 85% efficiency at 20% load, 88% at 50% load, and 85% at 100% load.

The 80 Plus Gold rating meas that the PSU is rated for at least 87% efficiency at 20% load, 90% at 50% load, and 87% at 100% load.

The 80 Plus Platinum(bet you didn’t know there was a Platinum) rating means that the PSU is rated for at least 90% efficiency at 20% load, 92% at 50% load, and 89% at 100% load.

80 plus certification for power supply PSU

What type of power supply do you need that interfaces to motherboard? For example AT or ATX connection. Most board now days use ATX. The connector itself is a Molex 39-01-2240 connector, often called a Molex Mini-fit Jr.
20 pin vs 24 pin computer power supply motherboard connector AT / ATX

Power supply’s are categorized in tiers. Tier 1, 2, etc. Stay in Tier 1 or Tier 2.
Tier 1 is considered the best of the best
Tier 2 is considered Excellent
Tier 3 or less is something you should avoid if possible.

Modularity

Another aspect of PSUs that often gets overlooked is modularity.

Direct Cable: All PSU cables come from the PSU housing directly. This setting is cheaper in production or design, making PSUs cheaper to consumers. However, this is not good for the enthusiast who may need to change his build from time to time. Cable management is also much harder with a mess of spaghetti cables to deal with.

Semi-Modular: All necessary cables come from the PSU case directly such as ATX Power (20+4) connector, CPU (4+4) connector, and PCI-e (6+2) connector. Other non-essential plugs such as Molex (4-pin) and SATA (15-pin) connectors, are modular allowing you to remove them at will. Semi-modular offers middle ground pricing and is a decent cable management solution.

Full-Modular: All cables are removable, making installation extremely easy and sleek. Cable management is extraordinarily easier with a full-modular PSU and it makes it easy if you change builds frequently or even if this is your first build.

ALWAYS read the power outputs on the power supply label. Her’s a good example where a high wattage power supply can’t actually supply enough power to run a graphics card.
Power supply max current output on 12 volt rail

So here’s it’s showing we have 433 watt power supply with 33 amps of DC output on the 12 volt rail. 396 watts for 12 volts. The GeForce 8800 ULTRA SLI (768 MB) runs at 354 watts at 29 amps. It’s using almost all the available power supply power with nothing left over for other components. It’s also dangerously close to the max amount of power the 12 volt rail can support. A fire waiting to happen.

Single vs multi rail power supply’s – Their is a lot of debate about what’s better. One all the power goes on one “rail” on the power supply. If one thing gets fried, everything goes and shuts down. With a multi rail, say one GPU fries, the power supply can shut that one rail down and possibly prevent a fire or further system damage. But your current limited for that one rail and all the others. So it’s good and bad. You really have to think when your designing your mining rig. Making sure your not usign to much power on a rail. With a single rail, you jsut plug it all in and your good. With multi rail a lot of the newer power supply’s allow you to view power use on each wire real time. Sorta coo.

Warranty: Most of the better PSU’s come with a 5 – 10 year warranty.

Other things to look for Over Voltage Protection
Under Voltage Protection
Short Circuit Protection
Over Power Protection
Over Temperature Protection

Molex connector

Molex Pinout

Pin number

Wire color

Description

1

yellow

+12 volts

2

black

ground

3

black

ground

4

red

+5 volts

Connector part numbers

Socket housing

Socket

Pin housing

Pin

Maximum current per circuit

AMP 1-480424-0

AMP 60619-1

AMP 1-480426-0

AMP 60620-1

13 amps

Unofficial cable/connector maximum wattage delivery

Voltage rail

Number of lines

Maximum current

Maximum wattage

+5 volts

1

5 amps

25 watts

+12 volts

1

5 amps

60 watts

Sata Power Cable

SATA power Cable Connector

SATA Pinout

Pin number

Wire number

Wire color

Description

1

5

orange

+3.3 volts

2

5

orange

+3.3 volts

3

5

orange

+3.3 volts

4

4

black

ground

5

4

black

ground

6

4

black

ground

7

3

red

+5 volts

8

3

red

+5 volts

9

3

red

+5 volts

10

2

black

ground

11

2

black

ground

12

2

black

ground

13

1

yellow

+12 volts

14

1

yellow

+12 volts

15

1

yellow

+12 volts

Connector part numbers

Cable connector

Terminals

Maximum current per circuit

Molex 67582-0000

Molex 67581-0000

1.5 amps

Official cable/connector maximum wattage delivery

Voltage rail

Number of lines

Maximum current

Maximum wattage

+3.3 volts

3

4.5 amps

14.85 watts

+5 volts

3

4.5 amps

22.5 watts

+12 volts

3

4.5 amps

54 watts

You will need a power switch button to turn on and off your rig or reboot:

The first one is a horizontal PDU that uses a NEMA L6-20P plug and needs a 20 amp circuit with an L6-20P receptacle. The second one is a vertical PDU that uses a NEMA L6-30P plug (similar but not identical) and needs a 30 amp circuit with a L6-30P receptacle.

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St. Joseph’s Medical Center will be providing low-cost mammography screenings for women in Tracy, CA on Wednesday, January 12 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Safeway store located at 1801 W. 11th Street.

The mammograms are part of innovative program created to bring mammography services to women who have limited resources and may not otherwise have access to preventative health care.

Low-cost mammograms will be available for $80. Women enrolled in certain medical programs may be eligible for a free mammogram. The screenings are available by appointment to any woman with a physician’s referral.

The St. Joseph Mobile Mammography Unit is a full-service, self-contained mammography clinic on wheels equipped with state-of-the-art digital mammography technology and service. It is sponsored by such partners as the Safeway Foundation, Avon and Susan G. Komen Foundation.

To make an appointment, call 866-430-8222.

Early detection is one of the most important factors in the fight against breast cancer, and a mammogram, in combination with a yearly doctor’s exam and monthly breast self-exam, makes it easier than ever for early breast cancer detection and survival.

Most women should consult their physician for a screening mammogram after age 35 and then every year or so as advised by their doctor. Most doctors advise yearly mammograms for women over 40 and it is important to notify your doctor right away if you feel anything unusual in your breasts during the monthly self exam. Many lumps are nothing to worry about, but only a doctor can determine which are harmless and which require attention.

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If you would like to speak with one of our Realtors in Tracy CA about selling your home or if you have other questions, please call our office. We will be happy to provide you with our service package for you to review.

For exclusive offers, current rentals, and inside news like us on Facebook!

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Calling it a “calculated risk,” the City of Tracy is looking to spend $2.75 million to help bring a Macy’s department store to town in an effort to revitalize the suffering West Valley Mall.

On Thursday June 10th City Manager Leon Churchill said city employees will present the City Council with a plan on how the money will be spent on fixing up the anchor space of Tracy’s West Valley Mall, left empty by Gottschalks last year. The plan is to have Macy’s move in and open its doors sometime in October – in time for the holiday shopping season.

The voting will be held during a special meeting after the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday June 15th.

The Tracy Press Reports:

Churchill said the $2.75 million would come from the residential specific plan fund, money set aside years ago after a settlement with developers. The money — which amounts to developer impact fees and is not tax revenue — can’t be used for things like the fire or police departments, Churchill said. It can only be spent on one-time projects.

“Every so often, the city has to take some calculated risk if it wants to create a better end result. I think this is one of those opportunities,” he said.

…The declining state of the mall is one of the reasons the city manager gave for the city’s courting of Macy’s. He said having a high-end fashion store in the vacant Gottschalks property could have a lasting benefit for the entire mall, in addition to the city and its residents.

…According to city projections that Churchill called “conservative,” the $2.75 million investment should be repaid through sales tax receipts within 10 years of Macy’s opening its doors. He said that timeline could be accelerated, depending the store’s success — Tracy takes in via taxes about 1 percent of all sales, and the future Macy’s is “conservatively” supposed to generate between $15 million and $22 million annually.

That’s compared to Gottschalk’s best sales year of $11 million, Churchill said, adding that Macy’s worst sales years should be far better than Gottschalk’s best.

Churchill said partnering with General Growth and Macy’s is a chance for the city to make a statement and respond to numerous calls for increased economic development.

“I think the community has been asking for some action on the city’s part,” Churchill said, “and I get the impression that this is the sort of thing that’s been asked of the city.”

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A pole conducted by AskMen.com places President Obama in the No. 21 spot of “most influential man” – one rank below Matthew Weiner the creator of “Mad Men” and one above Chef Ferran Adria.

The Number One spot went to the “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who topped the list of 49 prominent men from entertainment, philanthropy, politics, sports, and technology. The votes came from more than half a million AskMen.com readers, along with the site’s staff.

AskMen claims that “Daily Show” is “our youths’ most trusted source of information and its host the most trusted man in America.”

Stewart is expecting more than 100,000 Americans at his Rally to Restore Sanity, which is set for Saturday in Washington D.C. A satellite rally also will take place in Los Angeles.

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There is currently only one dog park in Tracy, CA. It’s located near downtown, behind the Fire Station on Grant Line Road.

El Pescadero Park – Tracy Blvd and Kavanaugh Ave

-1 acre of enclosed grass area with benches, doggy bags, lights, water fountain for dogs and humans
-Best time to go 4pm-6pm
-Take the Tracy Blvd exit off Hwy 205, head south; turn left at Kavanaugh Ave; dog park will be one block down on the right

So that all visitors may enjoy the dog park, the City of Tracy asks that all owners abide by a few simple rules:

-Do not use the dog park if your dog is unruly or barks excessively, aggressive, and/or is in heat.
-All dogs must be licensed
-All dogs must be current on vaccinations
-Owners are required to clean up their dog’s droppings
-All dogs must be leashed outside the dog park
-All dogs must be attended by an owner
-Owners use the park at their own risk
-The City of Tracy is not responsible for injury or illness to dogs or owners

Dog Park Etiquette Tips from the Association of Pet Dog Trainers:

DO NOT:
-Bring a dog that is under 4 months of age
-Take sensitive dogs to an enclosed dog park where there are more than 2 dogs per every 20 square yards of space
-Bring or use treats and toys when other dogs are nearby
-Allow dogs to form loose packs
-Allow a dog to bully another
-Ever let your dog off-leash in an un-fenced dog park if he/she is not responsive to your verbal commands
-Worry if some dogs don’t play with other dogs in a dog park
-Spend your time talking on a cell phone – you must supervise your dog at all times and be able to give your dog your full attention

DO:
-Consult your veterinarian about your dog’s overall health before going to a dog park
-Make sure your dog is up-to-date on his/her vaccinations
-Observe the dogs in the dog park to see if there are any potential health or behavior problems
-Clean up after your dog
-Supervise dogs when they are playing and interrupt any rough play
-Be willing to leave a dog park if you feel that your dog is either being a bully, the play is getting too rough or your dog is just not having fun
-Check to be sure there aren’t a large number of intact (un-neutered) males at the park
-Make sure your young dog is not being bullied or learning bad manners from the other dogs
-Be cautious about taking advice from other park patrons who are not dog professionals

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